My Cooking
I am a chef of nearly 20 years experience.
When young kids ask me if they should take up cooking as a profession, I honestly and whole heartedly tell them “don’t do it, there is a better way to earn a living”
Before I go on, I must explain something first.
Continue reading “Life as a chef!”
Not many words to say here really!
In Adelaide, summer is in full flight and eating gets a little harder!
If God created a place for all his children so that they can run, play and marvel at pure, awesome beauty, then that place would have to be Queenstown.
I think I am at home in the cold, surrounded by snow capped, jagged edged mountains that touch the clouds. I think I am at home in a place surrounded by tall pine trees, so thick and dense that the colour green places my heart and mind at ease. I think I am at home beside the wide and vast lakes that make it seem you are at sea when you look into it, with it’s dark blue clear waters that stretch on for miles, disappearing behind the mountains that frames every view of the city.
I have talked about “Dude Food” several times, I just have a huge fascination with it. To me, it’s about comfort. I love cooking and eating food that’s tasty, easy to eat and easy to recognize.
Continue reading “Buttermilk Chicken, Polenta Crumbed Okra with House Made Tartare Sauce”
One of my dreams is to one day own a mac and cheese food truck!
You can just about make any flavour and then toss it through macaroni and bake it. Imagine all the things you like, then mix it in with macaroni. For example, I love chili and chili con carne, mix it in with macaroni, put cheese on top and and bake it in the oven and you have chili mac and cheese. You can also have it cold like a salad like they do in the Philippines. There they have a salad with macaroni, its usually with pineapple, ham, palm seeds, cheddar cheese and coconut dressed with mayonnaise or sour cream, sounds weird but bloody tasty stuff.
One of my favourite things to eat is chili!
I have grown up eating chili since I can remember. As a kid, I remember eating our meals around a huge table which my grandmother would cook for. I had aunts, uncles, cousins and sisters around that table, including my grandmother, who would share a chair with me. As I ate, I remember the many condiments that accompanied every meal.
Continue reading “Chili Con Carne, Tortilla, Salsa, Guacamole”
Photo by Jun Pang
Secondary cuts of meat are trendy these days. Whether it be lamb, pork or beef, secondaries have come around from the past to be trendy once again. In the past, it was almost a necessity to use secondary cuts of meat and offal for survival. The harsh financial times of the past forced a lot of people to be creative with cheaper cuts of meat. Stories told by grandmothers, telling us about cooking pigs head, ox tails and trotters; ribs, shins and belly seemed so unreal when we were younger. We could never imagine eating such things because our generation is so used to juicy, primal cuts of meat. These days, chefs have trended towards creating dishes with secondaries more and more not to make more money (because they are cheaper) but because punters are taking to liking the wonderful creations that chefs come up with using bits of meat that would other wise be used for mince perhaps. The cooking methods for these secondary cuts is usually long, this is to extract as much flavour from the cut and to break down the tougher muscles. Cooking methods like braising, slow roasting, confit and these days, sous vide (where it is becoming a regular cooking method for chefs). As a result of slow cooking, I believe that it produces a tender, tastier, juicier end product.
I grew up eating Filipino food and many of the dishes have created great life memories for me and Sisig is one that stands out.
The first time I had Sisig was when I visited the Philippines as an adult. My friend and I thought it would be a great life experience to visit the Philippines on our way to Ireland. We spent two weeks in Manila, the capital of Philippines with my uncle and cousins. It was then that I was introduced to Sisig and the delicacies of Filipino bar food.